Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1887-04-09
at have a great. great secret to tell you, +"

II have q great. great secret to tell you"
said Dolores to me one day.
Then she told me that among the ruins
of the old house on the river bank large
amount of go was buried. We took onr
faithful friend DIEGO Dan into our conf
dence. An indescribable expression passed
over his face rs he listened 10 the story;
but he suggested that we three should visit
the place and secure the treasure, as the
Indians had returned to their homes for
the winter and there would be no danger.
During the sail up the river, however,
Dan was very anxious and watchful, but
no enemy appeared. We secured the gold,
placed it III the boat and were ready to re-
turn, when Dan, who seemed positively uu-
nerved and moro and more apprehensive
every moment, suggested that Dolores and
| should row slowly down the stream while
he would walk across the strip of land
which formed the Devils Elbow, and join
us below. 1t was beautiful. clear night,
almost as light as dav; the splendid scene
ry and calm, unrufiled river made most
enchanting scene in the moonlight. We
drifted around the elbow with the current
turned the PROV of our boat shoreward, and
were waiting for Dams signal, when the
stiffness was broken by the sharp report of
rifle on the river bank, then another and
another. moment later Diego Dan called
to us and We quickly rowed across to where
he was standing on the low, white sand
bank.
Near him man was lying on the shore,
his face CHASTITY beneath the moon, gasping
in a death struggle. l walked toward him,
and discovered to my astonishment that it
was my guardian, Mr.. Charner.
Diego Dan, murderer robber. seducer, ;"
cried the dying man, 81 am going"
Goodbye, my sanity friend" replied
Dan, gaily, as he stepped into the boat 10
which l had also returned.
mo; you will come with me-" the wound
ed man gasped, suddenly rising TO a sitting
posture, and firing pistol with deadly aim
and effect toward our loved and trusted
friend.
Dan fell heavily upon the bottom of the
boat, his head struck one of the cross
pieces violently, and both his eyes rolled
! out and ratified upon the boards.
| knew then why his eyes had always
worn that steel-blue tint-they were glass.
Every one knows that We see an object by
simply having its image reflected back upon
the perceptive faculties of the brain. Just
as i'll a camera the image is thrown back
upon the ground glass. That was the Sc
cret of Dams wonderful long range vision;
his eyes were compound magnifiers. AS in
a camera, so in his eyes the image had al
ways been inverted, which caused him to
shoot Indians in the legs at a distance.
knelt beside Dan, who whispered:
Put EN- back. am dying"
| knew he referred to the eyes, and
quickly replaced them, when most Won
derful and awful thing occurred. In my
haste and excitement had placed his eyes
| in backward.
He writhed in agony, but deaths cold
hand was pressing hard upon him as my
Dolores and l, gazing upon those steel
blue orbs, read the dying mans Utmost
| thoughts, reflected from within, clearly and
| plainly.
Now we knew that Mr.. Charner's dying
words of a moment ago were true. Now
We knew that Diego Dams soul was stained
with crimes innumelable. Immigrants
whom he had guided across the plains into
The power of the Coyote, trappers and
hunters he had ambushed, friends who had
slept with him, women who had loved him
their cruel murders were all reflected as
they passed in the dying mans memory
across those steel-blue lenses. Then came
the old haunted house and tie murder of
Dolores parents. Now we knew that tho
attack had been led by Diego Dan and
Chalner. All! it was a long, terrible sight
but we stood SPELL bound and immovable un-
iii We knew that a sudden quarrel between
these two men had saved us. They had
planned to meet Dolores and me below the
Devils Elbow, murder us. and divide the
! treasure between themselves.
Their wicked plans had failed, however:
/ they had quarreled suddenly and slain each
other.
We took the bodies aboard and returned
that night to Cottonwood.
Did you marry Dolores?" asked.
AT this point the old miners companion
pulled at my sleeve and whispered:
There wasn't any Dolores. He was lost
out on the desert, last year, two days, with
out food or water. He finally came into
camp, with his clothes torn into shreds, his
fingers worn TO the bone scratching for
water. us they always do, and his mind
entirely gone. He still gets very dry at
times, and then he tells that story to some
nice, gentlemanlv tenderfoot, who always
gives him a dollar TO get whisky at the
commissary. He is very dry to- night.
!Snbe?"
l saw it all in a moment, passed over n
dollar, and went to bed on the desert,
wrapped in blanket. with my saddle for a
pillow.